Storage battery.



A 'PATBNTEDMA-Y 22, 1905.

T.. A. EDISON'. I STORAGBBATTERY. A PPLIGATIN HLED'SLPT. 28. 1904.

`UNITED STATES PATENT oEEroE.

THOMAS A. EDISON, OF LLEWELLYN PARK, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO EDISONSTORAGE BATTERY COMPANY,

OF IVEST ORANGE, NEW JER- SEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

STORAGE BATTERY.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 22, 1906.

Application filed September 28, 1904. Serial '.NO 226,314.

T (all whom, it 11mg/ foncrn:

Beit known that I, THOMAS A. EDisoN, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, residing at Llewellyn Park, Orange, county of Essex, State ofNew Jersey, nave invented certain new and useful Improvements in StorageBatteries, of which the following is a specification. l I

My invention relateslto improvements in storage batteries of the `typeinvented by me wherein the active materials containing, re-

spectively, nickel and iron are maintained under pressure in smalll)ockets or rece itacles made of perforated s ,iieet metal and held inposition in suitable grids.

I md in practice that .bulk for bulk iinelydivided iron obtainedby-reducing ferrie oxid (see my Patent No. 727,118, dated Mayo, 1903) ismuch more active velectrolytieally than the nickel hydroxid that I haveso far been able to obtain practically. Consequently to present 'thebest combination for ractical use the bulk of iron used need be onlyhalf that of the nickel.

I ind that if the attempt is made to employ pockets of nickel of twicethe capacity as the iron-pockets the surface in contact with the metal.walls is not large enough to provi'defor the proper discharge rate.Furthermore, such an arrangement would be undesirable commercially, forthe reason that it wouldI necessitate the employment oi' widelydiierentmachines for manufacturing andassernbling the nickel and iron grids andalso 3 5- because the great bulk of nickel used .would necessitatepockets of prohibitively thick metal in order to accommodate theswelling, and, nally, because with a thick mass 'of nickel the propercirculation of the electrolytevcould not be secured. I have discoveredthat by making the pockets for the nickel of substantiallythe same sizeas those for the iron and by uslng twiceV a's many nickel grids as irongrids a practically useful combination is secured, since the necessarilylarge contact-surface is presented to give the desired discharge rate,ample opportunity is offered for the circulation of the electrolyte, andthe bulk of nickel in each pocket is not too large, as by its swelling,to necessitate the employment of ohiectionably thick metal. Furthermore,the spade he. Ween theadjacent nickel-pockets prrwides for opportunityfor ets,

reduce the objections any swelling to take place. Heretozfore in theconstruction of my battery I have employed insulating-separators betweenthe several grids; but I find that these separators are notneccssarybetween the adjacent nickel grids, which may therefore belallowed to swell, so as to touch each other without aiiecting thecirculation of the electrolyte or the general operation of the battery.I thus effect a saving in lateial space and further due to swelling ofthe active materials, and particularly the nickel hydroxid.

In order that the invention may be better understood, attention .isdirected to the accompanying drawings, forming part of thisspecification, and in which- Figure 1 is a cross-sectional view throughone of my improved storage batteries embodying the present invention andshowing the preferred form of separators, and Fig. 2 a perspective viewillustrating the manner of manufacturing the preferred form of separavIn both the above views correspondingparts are indicatedv by the samereference-numerals.

In the drawings, 1 1 represent nickelockets, and 2 2 iron-pockets, theformer icing arranged in pairs, as shown. The several pockets containthe active material in pulverized form and are secured in positionwithin suitable grids 3 in the usual way. Insulating-separators areemployed between the iron-pockets and the adjacent nickel-pockets toprevent the pockets from contacting under the effect of swelling of theactive materials; but preferably separators are not emplo ed between theadjacent nickel-pockets, which may swell, so as to actually touchwithout objection, By dispensing with separators between thenickel-pockets I obtain space enough in which the entire expansion maytake place. The se mrators which I preferably use are diamonr -shaped incrossseetion, as shown in Fig. 1 by the numeral l. These separators aremade of hard rubber, preferably by cutting a sheet thereof intosections, as shown in Fig. '2, whereby they may be manufactured verycheaply. 'lhe separators are so proportioned that each engages therounded corners of four of the pockwhile at the same time the adjacentgrids TOO ' of hard rubber 6 or other insulating material,

tion of a series of grids or plates carrying pockets for the ironcomposition, and a sel ries of grids or plates carrying pockets for thenickel composition, said latter grids being 2o placed in pairs betweenthe individual grids of the former series, and the volume of activematerial carried by each grid of the battery being substantially thesame7 substantially as set forth. 2 5 This specification signed andwitnessed day of August, 1904.

THOS. A. EDISON.

, determined by the length of one of the diagonals of each separator, asshown. With this arrangement the adjacent pockets will be alwayseffectively separated.

The several electrodes are assembled in any suitable can or receptacle5,'lined with a sheet are spaced a distance and are spaced at their endsby slotted separating-bars 7 in the usual way.

Having now described my invention, what 'this 10th I claim as newtherein, and desire to secure by I Letters Patent, is as follows:' l Ina storage battery employing an alkaline electrolyte and active materialscontaining iron and nickel respectively, the combina-V Witnesses 2 FRANKL. DifEn2 MINA C. MAOARTHUR.

